Lead Software Engineer

Lead Software Engineer
Stealth AI Fintech Startup | London | Hybrid (3 days on-site)
We’re hiring on behalf of an innovative Fintech startup that is building an AI-driven platform that’s rethinking how investors analyse, access, and manage alternative assets (e.g. private equity, private credit and other private markets).
They've built there MVP, raised funding from experienced fintech founders and senior figures in financial services, and are now scaling a category-defining product at the intersection of AI, automation, and finance.
We’re looking for an exceptional Lead Engineer to help shape the technical foundation of the company, stay hands-on, and build a world-class engineering team from the ground up.
The Role
This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who wants to code daily, own architecture, and lead by example.
You’ll design and build the core AI-powered platform, set technical standards, and work closely with product, data, and leadership to ship intelligent automation and decision-support tools for a legacy industry.
What You’ll Be Doing
You’ll lead the architecture of an AI-driven investment intelligence platform while staying deeply hands-on across the entire stack, from frontend UX to backend services, AI integrations, and core infrastructure. Working closely with the CTO, data scientists, and product leadership, you’ll help shape both the technical direction and the product itself.
You’ll build and mentor a small, elite engineering team, setting a high technical bar through example while driving strategy around scalability, security, and reliability. Along the way, you’ll explore and integrate emerging AI frameworks, tools, and blockchain technologies to keep the platform at the cutting edge.
What We’re Looking For

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  5+ years of professional software engineering experience
  
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  2+ years in a technical or team lead role
  
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  Strong ownership mindset; you execute and lead from the front
  
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  Excellent communication and decision-making under ambiguity
  
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  Node.js, React, and TypeScript
  
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  Python for AI workflows and automation
  
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  Microservices and distributed system design
  
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  Experience with AI / LLM frameworks (e.g. LangChain, OpenAI API, Vertex, LiteLLM)
  
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  GCP experience and DevOps best practices (monitoring, observability, CI/CD)
  
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  PostgreSQL and relational data modelling
  
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  Event-driven systems (Pub/Sub, Kafka) and NoSQL (e.g. MongoDB)
  
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  Experience building and running production SaaS platforms
  

Nice to Have

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  RAG, autonomous agents, or Model Context Protocol (MCP)
  
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  TDD, Agile, and DevOps environments
  
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  Blockchain / Web3 integrations or tokenisation frameworks
  
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  Cryptography, security, or distributed systems knowledge
  
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  Fintech, asset management, or due-diligence automation background
  

Why Join

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  Build a category-defining AI product in fintech
  
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  Stay deeply hands-on while growing into a senior technical leader
  
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  Shape architecture, culture, and engineering standards from day one
  
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  Work with an experienced CTO and leadership team
  
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  Real ownership and real impact; your code and decisions will shape the company
  
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  Backed by serious operators and investors in fintech and financial services
  
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  High-trust, high-ambition, low-bureaucracy startup environment